Cake by the Ocean
by Aliathe
Summary: "I'm here for Aomine-kun, actually," the really cute stranger said. "His po- people want him to come home." "He's never talked about them much," Satsuki noted. He seemed pained, immediately making her feel terrible for making such a pretty person unhappy. "Well, he did leave us for a reason, I suppose." [merfolk!au] [gen]
1. The Really Cute Stranger

**Summary:** " _I'm here for Aomine-kun, actually," the really cute stranger corrected her. Satsuki's hopes sank faster than her pitiful swimming skills. T.R.C.S. looked past her, to where her best guy friend was glaring obliviously at the ocean's horizon, and added, "His po- people want him to come home." Her hopes for a summer romance experienced a swift and joyful revival. "He's never talked about his family much," she prodded curiously. T.R.C.S. seemed briefly pained, and Satsuki immediately felt terrible for making such a pretty person unhappy. "Well, he did leave us for a reason, I suppose." [merfolk!au] [gen, with hint of momoi/kuroko]_

 **Disclaimer:** _I don't own KnB or the cover picture._

* * *

Satsuki had no idea how she'd managed to convince Aomine-kun to rent a beach-house with her for summer vacation, but she had, despite his fear of the ocean, and she was understandably proud about convincing her headstrong best (guy) friend to change his mind about anything.

It was weird how a lazy, apathetic guy like Aomine was afraid of the sea, though. Of course, he'd always denied being _scared_ of it, and had actually laughed when she first brought it up, but he had definitely been adamant about not going near it before. He'd even passed up plenty of bonfire invites that were on the beach bordering their college, which was shocking, considering his fondness for partying.

Actually, she thought, she didn't really know anything about him, beyond how he acted at college, where they met, and what he'd let slip during their friendship.

Three years, Satsuki had known his stubborn, strange (and hot, but not really her type) ass, and all she knew was that he and his past friends had had a disagreement about his wanting to go to college, he slept and sunbathed with religious fervor, he didn't want to go near the ocean, he was freakishly smart at his major (marine sciences or whatever) even without ever studying, and he was really good at basketball, after learning the rules.

Still, they were totally tight and rocking that platonic bromance.

That didn't stop Satsuki from yearning for an actual romantic relationship of her own, though, even if Aomine seemed content with chasing every pretty face and fine pair of legs (along with, well, a big bust) for casual sex. He didn't do attachments, apparently, and she was constantly reminded by how her best guy friend was easily mistaken as a giant douchebag jock.

Okay, no, so maybe he was kinda really a giant douchebag jock, but he had his moments. Moments such as agreeing to her pleas for a shared beach-house she couldn't afford on her own, but which he _could_ with his sponsorship deals, and moments such as agreeing to cart in all the luggage from his prized sports car.

For that matter, moments such as paying for the entire gas bill of the prized sports car he'd insisted he drive them in. Or was that just decency? Decency counted as a moment against being a giant douchebag jock, didn't it?

… so, back to the summer romance Satsuki hoped for.

As she perched on the tiny lawn of their modest rented lodgings, she admired the beautiful view of the glimmering waves ahead. The view, the location on a more isolated, private part of the beach, and the two-minute walking-distance proximity to the shore were what had ultimately driven up the price of the rent. It was, she felt, worth it, and even Aomine had seemed to agree. His way of agreeing meant that he paused halfway to the door with an armful of boxes, and stared at the coast with a softer look in his eyes, before continuing to the house, his expression practically _wistful_.

Satsuki _also_ admired the beautiful view of the boy who was walking up to their house, his bare feet padding noiselessly on the sand underneath.

He was the prettiest boy she'd ever seen, period. At 21, Satsuki considered herself somewhat of an expert in pretty boys, but this one took the cake. Even without shoes, and wearing a very faded and loose shirt-shorts combo, his delicate features were doll-like, his movements careful, his height petite, his lips utterly kissable…

Her hopes for a summer romance didn't just _rise_ , they leaped upwards like a startled cat who sat on a pin.

She kept her expression open and smiling as he drew within speaking distance, and prayed desperately that he didn't see how badly she wanted to squeal right now. It would probably scare him off. Satsuki had a tendency to fall fast and fall _hard_ , and she didn't want the really cute stranger to think she was some… some _floozy_.

At college, she had enough of those kinds of preconceptions because of her chest and her bubbliness, as if a cheerful girl with a big cup-size couldn't be smart and pragmatic as well.

'Please, please don't be a jerk… or gay… not that I have anything against gay people, but if you are, please-please-please at least be bi…' she mentally chanted.

"Hi! Can I help you? My name's Momoi Satsuki, but you can call me Satsuki; what can I call you?" Satsuki beamed brightly, and inwardly winced at her uncontrollable nervous rambling.

'Was that coming on too strong? That was totally coming on too strong. Ahhh!'

The really cute stranger blinked his pale, rounded, wide fish-like (but still cute) eyes, and tucked a strand of light blue hair behind his perfectly shaped ear with his gorgeously slim fingers, that same carefulness of movement causing his actions to appear slowed, as if he were faintly unsure of how to use his limbs. In her opinion, it just made his… his _aura_ of serene, unshakeable calm more apparent.

"Greetings. I do not know if you can help me, but you may be able to. You can call me whatever you'd like, Satsuki-san."

She sighed, out loud.

She couldn't help it! He was just too adorable! And curse (or bless) it all, he was the opposite of Aomine, and therefore just her type. Dainty where he was bulky, polite where he was brusque, mysterious where he was… well, okay, so Aomine was mysterious a lot, too, but he was an irritating kind of 'just-give-me-a-straight-answer' mysterious, whereas this guy was just made even cuter.

Satsuki clasped her hands together and leaned forward, eager to be of use and maybe score some more goodwill points with the really cute stranger, or as she was beginning to think of him as, T.R.C.S.

"So! Help? Me? Um, I mean, what did you need help with? Were you looking for someone? Maybe me? Just, you know, in case you needed… well, something. I'm good at finding things," she babbled, inwardly wincing once more.

"I'm here for Aomine-kun, actually," the really cute stranger corrected her.

Satsuki's hopes sank faster than her pitiful swimming skills. 'So he _is_ gay… or, no, he could still be bi. I always thought that Aomine was straight, though. Maybe he was waiting for T.R.C.S.? Did he know that he frequented beaches, and that was why he avoided them? But that would mean he _wasn't_ waiting for T.R.C.S. Was Aomine just in denial of his bisexuality, and thus only picked up girls, and avoided beaches in case T.R.C.S. found him?'

The notion of anybody not wanting to shower T.R.C.S. in love and adoration was so bizarre, however, that she simply gave up her wild theorizing of the relationship between T.R.C.S. and Aomine. He (either 'he') would eventually tell her the truth, anyway, and jumping to inaccurate conclusions was what created love triangles. And this definitely wasn't a love triangle, because that would mean that Aomine was crushing on _her_ , which was never going to happen, since they were, like, bros. If anything, it would be a love _ray_ , which was more mathematically correct, as it went on in one direction…

But that was wild theorizing again, because she didn't even know for sure if she was misinterpreting T.R.C.S.' statement of being "here for Aomine-kun." It could _not_ be the obvious conclusion of romantic intentions.

T.R.C.S. looked past her, to where her best guy friend was on the second-floor balcony, glaring obliviously out-of-earshot at the ocean's horizon, having clearly not seen T.R.C.S. yet, and added, "His po- people want him to come home," thus proving the obvious conclusion obviously false.

Her hopes for a summer romance experienced a swift and joyful revival.

'What was he about to say instead of _people_ , though? Nevermind, it doesn't matter.'

"He's never talked about his family or friends much," she prodded curiously, setting aside her raging infatuation for a minute to fulfill her obligatory best-friendship and bromance duties. Aomine never talked about much, full stop, which she'd already pondered on the ride here.

T.R.C.S. seemed briefly pained, and Satsuki immediately felt _terrible_ for making such a pretty person unhappy.

And he was really, really, _really_ pretty.

"Well, he did leave us for a reason, I suppose."

.

.

.

* * *

 **~Who do you think T.R.C.S. is?**

 **~What do you think T.R.C.S. was about to say instead of 'people'?**

 **~Do you think Momoi's narration is in-character?**

 **~Do you think Aomine and whoever-you-suspect-T.R.C.S.-to-be are in-character?**

 **~How do you feel about this story so far?**

 ***Please review with any other thoughts.**

 **As I'm on spring break, and this is actually something that I have plotted out a little, it will be finished within a few more chapters and a few more days, instead of going on at a glacial pace like my other stories, which should always be presumed to be WIPs. It's inspired by 'Cake by on the Ocean' by DNCE, who I was listening to on the radio, and originally wanted to write an AkaKuro story for, with Akashi being dragged to this beachside bonfire by Aomine, and seeing Kuroko walk very carefully and unfamiliarly on land. However, I thought I'd botch a good interaction between them, but I liked Momoi, and wanted to see how she thought of things.**


	2. It's You, Not Me

**Summary:** " _I'm here for Aomine-kun, actually," the really cute stranger corrected her. Satsuki's hopes sank faster than her pitiful swimming skills. T.R.C.S. looked past her, to where her best guy friend was glaring obliviously at the ocean's horizon, and added, "His po- people want him to come home." Her hopes for a summer romance experienced a swift and joyful revival. "He's never talked about his family much," she prodded curiously. T.R.C.S. seemed briefly pained, and Satsuki immediately felt terrible for making such a pretty person unhappy. "Well, he did leave us for a reason, I suppose." [merfolk!au] [gen, with hint of momoi/kuroko]_

 **Disclaimer:** _I don't own KnB or the cover picture._

* * *

"He 'left' you?" Satsuki echoed.

She frowned, slightly, and glanced back at the still-scowling and still-oblivious Aomine, suddenly seeing his unwillingness to talk about his personal background in a different light. "As in… he ran away?"

T.R.C.S. sighed, much like a sea breeze, and appeared quite tired all of a sudden, though his air of calm didn't _break_ so much as _strain_.

"It's… not as complicated as everybody thinks," he explained-without-explaining, leaving out exactly _who_ was 'everybody.' "But that's basically it, yes. May I sit down with you, Satsuki-san? It is not a long story, but I've come a significant distance to find Aomine-kun, and I would like to rest, if I am to tell the not-long story. Aomine-kun was always the one who caused the most trouble, and took the most effort to rein in," he added, fond and a bit wry.

"How did you find him, anyway?" she asked, instead of commenting on his observation. She _did_ scoot over on the scraggly, salt-soaked grass first, however, and Satsuki tried very hard to pay attention to what T.R.C.S. was saying, rather than how soft his hair looked up close, how flawless his skin, how gentle the rise of his throat, how deliberate his every motion. _Very_ hard, though it was debatable whether or not she succeeded to not visibly fawning.

If she _did_ stare, at least T.R.C.S. was polite enough not to point it out.

T.R.C.S. sighed again, watching the waves curl and dissipate at the shoreline, a few dozen yards in front of them. There was a curious lack of body heat coming from him at her side, but to question that would be both rude and revealing of how aware she was of their closeness. Which was… no, not a thing she wanted to acknowledge out loud, in case he didn't notice or was purposely ignoring her infatuation with him.

"That is one of the complicated parts," he admitted. "Suffice to say, we- that is, his friends and family -knew Aomine-kun would not be able to avoid the ocean for long. Three years… we didn't expect, but stubborn as he was, even he couldn't avoid the ocean forever. It is something that… calls us in. For me, finding him was just a matter of keeping an eye on all the coastlines. Of course, we- his friends -couldn't be everywhere, so we split up the coastlines among us and our families. We knew he couldn't leave the country by air travel."

He paused. "As I am telling you all of this, and you'll most likely see me around until I can convince Aomine-kun to come back, you may call me Kuroko. I will trust you with that, since Aomine-kun seems to."

Satsuki immediately pinked as brightly as her hair. 'Way to flatter a girl…!'

"Thank you, Kuroko-kun. Your trust isn't misplaced," she promised, more formally than usual, feeling a little uneasy by his solemnity, but like she had to reciprocate his sincerity.

T.R.C.S.- no, _Kuroko_ , graced her with a very faint uplifting of his perfectly kissable lips.

Satsuki blushed even pinker, whereupon Kuroko graciously and thoughtfully turned away, back to gazing (adorably) fish-eyed at the waves.

After a pause, he continued.

"You must understand, our… neighborhood works differently. Our closest bonds are between families, which are sorted by t- by eye color, not by blood. Aomine-kun is closer to me than my own half-brother is." Kuroko stopped, and his tone brightened slightly with amusement as he confided, "Seijuurou- my half-brother -actually scares Aomine-kun. He has red eyes, you see."

Actually, she _didn't_ see, but Kuroko clearly expected her to, so she smiled and chuckled obligingly. His blank expression gave off a sense of satisfaction, despite not visibly changing.

"Our second-closest bonds, however, are between friends, which _can_ be chosen and exceed the family segregation. We… title friend-groups as 'pods,' as a little joke, since our neighborhood is very involved with marine life. Aomine-kun and I were in the same, rather small pod. Rather exclusive, too. Seijuurou was also in it, as well as three others. Our pod was very talented in a sport popular in our neighborhood."

"Was it basketball?" Satsuki asked, beginning to feel like she was finally understanding her taciturn best guy friend. Then again, Aomine hadn't known how to play basketball when they first met on campus; he'd simply picked it up extremely fast, and extremely well, good enough within weeks to garner sports scholarships, within months for sponsorships.

Kuroko seemed to be mildly confused. (It didn't, Satsuki noticed, detract any from his prettiness.) His facial features soon gently smoothed themselves out, however, like the tidepool's pulses washing away the minute accumulation of debris on stone. "No," he replied, amused once more at an inside joke, "it wasn't the kind of basketball you are referring to, Satsuki-san, but it did involve tossing a ball back and forth into team-guarded baskets. Perhaps the best comparison would be… underwater basketball?"

Now Satsuki was confused. "Wait, like water polo?" She was then distracted by the implications of what he was saying. "Wasn't that hard, if you had to come up for air, and swim against currents in the places deep enough to be fully submerged? Unless you had a pool… And wouldn't the ball and baskets naturally float up?" Wearing goggles for vision was assumed, so she didn't question that.

He switched from emanating amusement to understanding; since the invisible cues were very useful for gauging his otherwise emotionless face, she also didn't question how she could feel them.

"Ah, no" Kuroko corrected, "We were… essentially raised in the ocean our entire lives. Breathing wasn't a problem, and we were all strong swimmers. Yes, even me," he emphasized, apparently deducing what her instinctive look at his outwardly frail body meant. Luckily, he didn't seem offended, and the embarrassed relief from that kept Satsuki from noticing that he hadn't answered her questions about the equipment buoyancy.

Taking a longer breath, Kuroko began to say, "The reason Aomine-kun left us had to do with-"

He was cut off, when Aomine, up on the balcony, inevitably turned his head from a view of the sea to a view of the lawn, and caught sight of their surprise visitor.

Well, he caught a glimpse of him, anyway, and seemed to squint and focus until he was certain that he was who he thought he was. Either way, Satsuki saw the expression of genuine, unfaked shock on his face when Aomine confirmed it was Kuroko. She also saw the expression of genuine, unfaked resignation.

"Oi, Tetsu!" he called, wary, as if marking his own fate. "You're here for me, aren't you? Quit bothering Satsuki and get up here, then! We can talk well enough away from the tide!"

Or was he wary for Satsuki?

'But no,' Satsuki reasoned, 'that couldn't possibly be it. Why would Aomine be wary of Kuroko spending time with me? Kuroko is so polite and darling and- and utterly harmless. No, maybe Aomine's just trying to keep his old friend- his _brother_ , actually, or something like that according to Kuroko -away from his new one. Embarrassment, like telling baby stories of somebody. Yes,' she decided, growing more confident in the likelihood of this version of things, 'that's just it.'

Then Kuroko, by her side, sighed for a third time, drawing her attention.

He looked right into her eyes.

Satsuki noticed, distantly and dreamily, how perfectly captivating they were, despite their distinctly fish-like shape.

.

.

.

"Why don't you watch the pretty ocean for a while, Satsuki-san?" Tetsuya suggested softly, his voice a silken surface upon which the urging to agree was sewn. "Watch the pretty sea. It's you, not me. Nothing else around here but you, Aomine-kun, and, oh, a bunch of fish. You may as well sit here and watch the pretty waves as you wait for Aomine-kun to come back…"

His words faded away.

'I'm sorry about this, Satsuki-san,' he mentally said instead, for she really was an alright human. 'It won't last long, though. You'll see me again soon. And for that, I'm sorry once more, but I need to talk to Aomine-kun now without you interfering. At least, until I come back.'

And then Tetsuya allowed himself to fade away as well.

… Nothing so dramatic as what that phrasing brought to mind. He simply looked apologetically at the pinkette, who was too entranced by the waters ahead to notice his attention, before walking away.

Aomine-kun's scowl of disapproval from the balcony was noted, of course, but Tetsuya had done what he thought had needed to be done, just like always.

The scowl was exasperated, too, because Aomine-kun undoubtedly knew that by now.

"We need to talk," the darker bluetail- blue _nette_ was the human term, he supposed -stated grimly when the lighter bluetail finally reached him.

Tetsuya smiled faintly up at his scale-brother, who he had finally reached.

"You haven't lost that talent for stating the obvious, I see," he observed neutrally, and it was almost like they'd never parted.

Almost.

.

.

.

Satsuki quickly forgot the faintly ethereal, evanescent boy she'd talked to on the lawn of her jointly-rented beach-house, and stayed out watching the waves with a niggling sense of melancholy, though she wasn't sure why, until Aomine passed her on the pathway and called her in as well.

She wasn't aware that he'd ever left the house, but assumed she'd just missed him while she'd been focused on the ocean.

"Have fun looking at the sea?" he grunted, with a strange tone in his voice. Before she could answer, he added, "was it just you?" with the air of expectancy that clung to those who knew what was coming.

Frowning, and a little irked by how he acted like he was just asking the questions for some other confirmation, Satsuki bit out, "Well, who else would be with me? It's just me and you for the next mile and a few cliffs. Me and you and a bunch of fish, Ahomine. And for your information, the sea was very pretty today. I _did_ have fun looking at it," she repeated, defensive despite not knowing why, and only getting more annoyed by that.

"Yeah," Aomine said, still strangely, and now with a dash of frustrated fond weariness, "I bet you did, Satsuki. C'mon, let's just get inside and eat something. This is going to be a long vacation."

Still frowning, but out of covered-up worry at how her friend was acting, the pinkette grudgingly flounced inside.

The bluenette entered a few paces behind her, glancing back suspiciously at the grass beside where she'd been sitting, staring almost hypnotized at the roiling waves.

If there was an ident, it'd long since sprung back up. And he just knew that he definitely wouldn't have felt any lingering body heat there, regardless of what time after the suspected occupant had left.

"Damnit, Tetsu," he muttered under his breath.

Aomine firmly closed and latched and locked out the ocean behind him.

.

.

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* * *

 **~What do you think Kuroko did?**

 **~What do you think Kuroko and Aomine discussed?**

 **~Do you think Satsuki really just missed Aomine leaving the house?**

 **-Please review.-**

 **Next chapter is an interlude, told from Aomine's viewpoint. Satsuki's narration is the default.**


	3. Interlude: Shipwrecks Get Fracked

**Summary:** " _I'm here for Aomine-kun, actually," the really cute stranger corrected her. Satsuki's hopes sank faster than her pitiful swimming skills. T.R.C.S. looked past her, to where her best guy friend was glaring obliviously at the ocean's horizon, and added, "His po- people want him to come home." Her hopes for a summer romance experienced a swift and joyful revival. "He's never talked about his family much," she prodded curiously. T.R.C.S. seemed briefly pained, and Satsuki immediately felt terrible for making such a pretty person unhappy. "Well, he did leave us for a reason, I suppose." [merfolk!au] [gen, with hint of momoi/kuroko]_

 **Disclaimer:** _I don't own KnB or the cover picture._

* * *

It was to be expected that his pod would eventually catch up to him.

Daiki supposed that he wasn't nearly as surprised as he should've been when it turned out to be Tetsuya. Tetsuya had been the only other scale-brother (or scale-sister) that shared his passion for basketball and his unique shifting ability.

Well. Not land-basketball. Mer-basketball used tails instead of hands, water where there was air and ground, coral for baskets and woven spheres of kelp instead of rubber, etc. Really, 'basketball' wasn't a very exclusive or original name, seeing as many games, both land- and mer-, involved balls and baskets.

And. Well. Not entirely 'unique' of a shifting ability, since it wasn't unheard of for merpeople to have the genetic mutation of being able to sprout legs instead of a tail, and all of the other minutiae (dropping fins, gills, scales, gaining different lungs, a self-regulating circulatory system, fully opaque skin that was 'normally' tough and colored) necessary to blend in as an ordinary land-person.

But the mutation came and went, as fickle as the legends of merfolk, and it was still rare enough that their pod became infamously labeled as the 'Generation of Miracles.' Possibly because it was a fracking _miracle_ that all of their individual personalities had come together with minimal dissent, and definitely because it was unheard of for so many shifters to be born in a single generation.

And the former achievement of keeping them all together for so long was more of a testament to Seijuurou's charisma and forcefulness than it was to their actual pod-bonds.

Seijuurou was fracking terrifying. Daiki suspected it to be the kelpie blood in him. Out of GoM pod, Seijuurou and Tetsuya, the half-brothers, were also the only half-bloods in the clan; Akashi Sr., an intimidating Arctic mer-immigrant to the East Sea merpeople nation, had apparently gotten around despite his literal cold-bloodedness. First with some kelpie, who produced Seijuurou, with all of his mother's coloring and his father's frosty attraction. Then with, more impressively, a siren, who produced Tetsuya, with all of his father's coloring and his mother's abilities.

Tetsuya and Seijuurou had never seemed all too bothered by not knowing his mother at all, though, and it wasn't like any of the other Miracles were all too close to _their_ own spawn-mothers or brood-sires. Except maybe Ryouta, who was _such_ a sucker for attention that they all joked he must be part dogfish.

Anyway, that was all off-topic, not-relevant, and a result of his own mind trying to distract him from the imminent confrontation he really wished he didn't have to face.

'Why the Deeps did I have to agree to Satsuki's whining about going to the beach? Oh, yeah, because I was kinda really fracking homesick and thought that it was a minnow's chance in the Deeps that a mer would recognize me,' Daiki sarcastically thought to himself, watching his podmate and scale-brother draw closer with the careful walk of those who weren't entirely comfortable with legs- or gravity or ground -yet.

"We need to talk," he decided to get it out first, before Tetsuya could try any of his sneaky siren- or just plain sneaky Tetsuya -tricks. Daiki fondly remembered several childhood antics that had proven just how persuasive his best (mer) friend could be. He wasn't feeling very fond right now, though, about the implications of such persuasiveness standing in front of him, even as seeing his scale-brother again evoked other strongly mixed feelings.

Tetsuya, slyly snarky as ever behind his pokerface, smiled faintly at him, apparently genuinely pleased to see him again, whole and healthy (even if scaleless and tailless). "You haven't lost that talent for stating the obvious, I see."

He clearly expected him to chuckle and reminiscence and fall back into their familiar, easy camaraderie. And it would be so simple to do so. To let himself forget why he left the Miracles, left the _merpeople_ , and allow himself to be coaxed and enticed back with gentle concessions, subtle coercion.

Which was why Daiki forced himself to keep frowning and scowling down at him. "Why are you here, Tetsu?"

"You know why I'm here," Tetsuya answered glibly, going along with his businesslike tone.

"I left for a reason, Tetsu. I'm not going back, and you can't change my mind," he warned, defensive and wary.

He seemed to sense that, and understandingly raised his hands- carefully -in a gesture to calm down. "Let's take a walk on the beach, Aomine-kun. Catch up. Can't podmates do that anymore? I'm not going to force you to come back to us, Aomine-kun- you know I wouldn't use my thrall on you," the mer-siren added reproachfully, sounding a little hurt, "so just hear me out, okay? We were all worried about you, you know. And I'm sure you want to feel your- feet -in the tide after being landlocked for so long."

And the Deeps if he wasn't right, in all of his guilt-tripping glory. Daiki knew Tetsuya was definitely not going to just drop the subject, but… it really had been a long time since he'd felt the sea, the surf, the authentic saltwater on his skin, and he really wanted to feel it again, even if wasn't water-on-scales.

"Fracking _Deeps_ ," he swore with heartfelt tiredness, already drained from interacting with unassuming, make-you-feel-the-blame, expert convincer Tetsuya. " _Shipwreck,_ " Daiki added for emphasis, and just because he could, he tossed in the roughly equivalent land-curses as well. "Fucking shitty hell, Tetsu, no need for your railroading, I'll go, I'll go."

"Please don't make me scrub out your teeth with a sponge, Aomine-kun," Tetsuya scolded, reproachful once more, "as it would be unpleasant for both you and the sponge, no doubt. And what is 'railroading?'" he tagged on, even as he looked happy with his compliance and lead the way down to the shore.

Daiki felt a brief twinge of apology and annoyance as they quietly passed the unresponsive, oblivious Satsuki. She was really decent for a land-dweller, and had been helpful in her willingness to mentally make up excuses for his occasional inexperience about land-matters. She was accepting of a little weirdness in her life, and she wasn't nearly as fluff-headed as she seemed and sometimes acted, and… okay, admittedly, he'd at first liked her just because her 'unusual' hair and eye color reminded him of home, but still. They'd… actually gotten to be good friends; a friend he could count on, and probably his best land-person friend. In land-terms: they were bros (even though she was a girl.)

"Did you _really_ have to enthrall her?" he complained to Tetsuya, delicately picking his way ahead to the sand, where the lighter bluetail appeared much more comfortable.

"Yes," was his short reply, and the elongated addend of, "she might eavesdrop, or ask uncomfortable questions."

" … You talk more, now," Daiki noted. "A lot more forceful, too. 'Railroading' means to kinda trample over somebody's protests until they did what you said. Like… what Akashi did," he explained, habitually referring to Seijuurou by the more formal last name. "Or does, I suppose."

Tetsuya looked forward, expressionlessly, as they walked away from the beach-house. "Are you saying that I'm more like Seijuurou now, Aomine-kun?" he asked bluntly, giving no indication of whether or not that was a bad thing.

" … yes?"

"Maybe I am," he freely confessed, catching Daiki off guard. Tetsuya had _hated_ being compared to his blood-brother before, though he hadn't hated _Seijuurou_ , exactly. "I spent more time with him since you left and the pod broke up. There's a lot of pressure and public scrutiny on a pod-captain who had a member desert, and then watched his pod fall apart. I had to keep him steady-" _since nobody else was there to_ , he didn't say, "in case he went Gold."

Daiki instinctively sucked in a breath. Seijuurou going Gold wasn't something he would wish on the most aggravating of opponents. The redtail was fracking terrifying enough as sane, rational self; the Miracles had only seen him giving in to his kelpie-inherited madness- which was even more unstable than the regular strain of kelpie madness, since he was just a half-blood -once, and, Deeps, there wasn't an expletive or word strong enough to fully convey the fin-freezing pure _fright_ that it'd caused.

"Did he?" Daiki asked softly, suddenly feeling very guilty- or, rather, _more_ guilty. Of _course_ Tetsuya had said that to make him feel guilty, he _knew_ that, but he didn't think Tetsuya would _lie_ to him for the sake of a guilt-trip that wasn't guaranteed to get him to come back. Though, if he _was_ lying, it wasn't like Daiki could ever discern the difference.

" … No," Tetsuya breathed out, staring down blankly at his human toes, leaving light idents on the sand behind him, "he didn't. But one eye turned gold a few times, and it's a daily struggle- a daily fear -for him now. Midorima-kun only visits when the Tides of Fate forecast it as a 'very lucky' day for Cancers, and even then, he only stays in our reef for a brief update and a lucky-item drop-off before leaving. Murasakibara-kun lives in a nearby reef, and comes more often, but just to present Seijuurou with his latest catches, like- like _offerings_ of some sort to a finicky ocean deity. And Kise-kun visits most often, whenever he's not busy with his modeling contracts, but he's so, so afraid of Seijuurou. He tries to laugh it off, and he also tries to convince me to leave Seijuurou to our father- but I can't do that to him."

 _And_ _ **you**_ _never visit, because you_ _ **left**_ _and started this whole mess,_ he still didn't say.

Daiki looked away at the pleading tone in Tetsuya's voice as he neared the end of his talk, broken up and bitter. They wandered along the shore in silence for a long while, _him_ taking off his shoes to feel the water caress his feet welcomingly, _he_ clearly recovering his composure from his emotional explanation. Neither looked at each other- couldn't bear to -until Tetsuya looked at him first, in fragile hope.

"Tetsu…" he pleaded himself, stomach churning at disappointing his best friend, his scale-brother, his former podmate. "You know I can't."

"Why _not?_ " Tetsuya retorted with an edge of sharpness, still upset, though his face was as blank as ever. "Tell me why, Aomine-kun. Explain to me and make me understand. You know I usually support everything you do, unless it's stupid, so why- why didn't you say goodbye before you left me?"

And that was really it, wasn't it. He didn't want to disappoint his best friend, his scale-brother, his former-podmate, but he already had, from the moment he'd implied that he _hadn't_ trusted or loved him enough to treat him as a best friend, a scale-brother, and an at-the-time podmate.

" _Because I thought you'd think it was stupid, okay!?"_ Daiki bit out, frustrated, ruffling his own hair and feeling the lack of gills keenly for the first time in years as he heaved in breaths. "I didn't- I didn't want to spend the rest of my life _knowing_ that there was this _whole entire other world out there_ that I didn't _explore_ or _experience_ just because _most_ merpeople couldn't go on land and thought it was boring! _I_ didn't think it was boring! I thought it was _wonderful_ , and- and _bright_ and _brilliant_ and _different_ \- and I thought I wanted to live it a little!

"I thought… I thought… I thought the other Miracles wouldn't understand and would try to stop me, and I _knew_ how much our pod meant to you. I thought it would be unfair of me to make you choose between coming with me or staying with the pod. I didn't think the Miracles would just… drift apart. I'm- I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, Tetsu, but I'm still not going back."

Tetsuya was very quiet, by his side.

Daiki chanced a nervous glance at him for his reaction.

He was _shaking_.

With carefully restrained… something.

His fingers curled into fists, and his head was bowed, and he didn't face him when he asked lowly, "You're _sorry_ for not expecting that the pod would break? _That's_ what you're sorry for, _Ahomine?_ "

Tetsuya whirled around, eyes gleaming- but not with siren thrall, just with shiny tears and rage, which was probably scarier and worse to see on softspoken Tetsuya -and teeth bared as he hissed, "You- I- You _idiot!_ "

He raised a fist, clenched tight, then seemed to think twice, stopping and staring at it as he told him, in a deceptively calmed voice, "the only reason I'm not punching you right now, _Ahomine_ , is because it would raise questions from Satsuki-san, and she's a nice human who I owe for enthralling and who, anyway, doesn't deserve to be worrying over the possibility of her normal, ordinary, _human_ friend getting into fistfights over vacation. We are going to be talking about this later."

Giving Daiki a decisive, stormy nod, Tetsuya then walked into the sea until he completely went under.

Seeing as he knew the lighter bluetail probably _had_ a tail by now, Daiki sighed, and began the long trudge home, though he remembered to put his shoes on before he got to Satsuki.

'Looks like Akashi Sr.'s icy temper didn't completely go to just Seijuurou,' he noted distantly.

* * *

 _ **#**_

 _ **#**_

 _ **-Please review.-**_

 _ **Daiki, Daiki, Daiki. Oh, you idiot. But you're Tetsuya's idiot, no?**_

 _ **And yes, this is gen. Just with hints of bromance, and Satsuki's maybe-onesided-maybe-not helpless infatuation with Tetsuya (which isn't, actually, entirely the fault of his siren genes. Mostly, yeah, because he's technically supernaturally pretty, but also because he's nice and polite and softspoken and basically makes Satsuki want to squeal, kiss him senseless, and hug him in equal parts.)**_


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